Atiku Abubakar has been announced as the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress for the 2027 elections following a decisive victory in the party’s primary poll.
The former vice president secured the party’s ticket after overcoming challenges from ex-Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi and businessman Mohammed Hayatu-Deen.
Confirmation of the result was made public on Wednesday night through a statement released on the ADC’s official X account.
“Atiku defeats Amaechi, Hayatudeen to secure ADC Presidential Ticket.
“Final result: Atiku 1,855,787, Amaechi 509,397, Hayatudeen 180,903. Total votes cast in the election: 2,546,457. Total party membership for the election: 3,113,599. Congratulations to Waziri Atiku,” the statement added.
The final figures showed Atiku maintaining a dominant lead throughout the contest, polling more than 1.8 million votes.
Amaechi finished in second place with 509,397 votes, while Hayatu-Deen garnered 180,903 votes.
Atiku’s victory margin stood at 1,346,390 votes ahead of Amaechi and 1,674,884 votes ahead of Hayatu-Deen, cementing his emergence as the ADC’s standard-bearer for the next presidential election.
ADC’ll deliver action — Atiku
Speaking after his victory at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja late Wednesday night, Atiku pledged to lead what he described as a national recovery effort and appealed to aggrieved members of the coalition and defeated aspirants to unite behind the party ahead of next year’s general election.
“We demonstrated that while democracy is being strangled and squashed by the ruling party and its oppressive and anti-democratic government, democracy is alive and well in the African Democratic Congress,” Atiku said.
He accused the APC-led government of fuelling crises within opposition parties through the involvement of security agencies, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and elements within the judiciary.
“As I speak, virtually all opposition political parties in the country have leadership crisis engineered by the APC government, the INEC and elements in the judiciary,” he said.
The ADC flagbearer also condemned the continued detention of former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai, describing it as part of a broader crackdown on opposition figures.
“All because he is a leading opposition figure. This kind of cruelty must stop,” he declared.
Credit: vanguardngr.com
